Over several projects, my research will explore the ‘discontinuity effect’, by which individuals behave differently to teams or groups, in economic decision-making scenarios. Specifically it will examine the setting of institutional choices and self-organisation. This will be achieved using both controlled laboratory experiments and theoretical analysis using behavioural models. The projects will focus on the ability of individuals and teams to design an effective formal mechanism for encouraging cooperation, a comparison of the use of formal and informal mechanisms, and the existence (or non-existence) of a ‘democracy premium’ when comparing exogenously-imposed vs endogenously-adopted mechanisms. The implications for such research are wide-ranging, from socio-political to organisational economics, in which teams or groups as a decision-making unit are increasingly common.
Prior to my PhD, I studied for my Bachelor’s degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics (PPE) at Lancaster University, followed by a Master’s degree in Philosophy and Economics at the University of York. This developed into an interest in the behaviour of economic agents, and with that, behavioural and experimental economics.
